Page 113 of Catching Sparks

He presses his face into my neck and asks, “Good?”

“Better than I think I’ve ever been.”

“Yeah? Me too.”

I fit my head into the crook of his neck and close my eyes. “Thank you for everything, Garrison. These past few days were amazing.”

“Can I assume that you forgive me for being an idiot before we left now?”

A tease of a smile pulls at my mouth. “Yeah, I think you can.”

“I’ll add successful groveller to my resume the moment we get back.”

“I didn’t think it was possible for you to outdo Brody’s act of service when he bought Anna a fluffy cow, but you most definitely did.”

“Banana, right?”

“The one and only. You’ve seen her?”

“Only my first day. I don’t spend any time with the cows. Wade trusts me with the horses instead.”

“Do you miss them? I bet Kip misses you.”

He draws soft circles on my belly. “Yeah. Kip’s a friend.”

“He adores you. You’re really good with him. With all of them, really.”

“It surprised me how much I grew to like them. Between Kip and Johnny, I made far more friends in Cherry Peak than I thought I was going to,” he admits.

The admission makes me sad. I wish he had made a million more friends. “You could have more than just those two. Brody makes a pretty decent friend.”

“Brody doesn’t want to be my friend, honey. It’s probably better that way. I’m still his boss.”

I frown. “It’s not better that way. Friends are friends regardless of the circumstance. You’re both grown men; I’m sure you could figure out how to work together while being friends.”

“We’ll see. He’ll be back from Calgary by now.”

I glide my palm over his thigh before resting it on his knee. He presses the length of it again mine, and I sigh, going limp in his arms.

“Better late than never,” I tell him before letting my eyes flutter shut.

“Stay awake for a few more minutes for me,” he tells me, but I’m already drifting.

I only wake when he helps me out of the bath and wraps me in a fluffy towel before leading me back to the bedroom and tucking me into bed. The weight of him wrapped around me as we lie on our sides is the last comfort needed to send me into a dreamless sleep.

39

GARRISON

The Wi-Fi on the plane is spotty at best, but by some miracle, I manage to send off a long, descriptive text to my mom and an email to Nathan. It’s early in the morning in Toronto, too early for Nathan to be awake yet, but I don’t need a quick reply from him.

Mom, on the other hand, I’d prefer one sooner than later. I glance at Poppy curled up in the chair opposite mine with a thick, fuzzy blanket over her shoulders and smile. She’s at ease, her features soft as she sleeps through the sudden spurt of turbulence.

The change in flight plan is still unknown to her. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision last night after tucking her into bed and lying beside her awake for hours. I’m selfish, I’ll admit that. And when I thought about never introducing her to my mom, I knew in my gut that it would be a mistake.

When I think back to every mistake I’ve ever made in my life, most of them only came to be because I ignored that instinct. Instead of trusting myself, I put what a CEO should do at the forefront of my mind. I refuse to do that again. Not with Poppy.

My phone vibrates on my lap, and I read it with a relieved sigh.

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